E-2 Chefs
For foreign chefs, the E-2 visa category (Essentially-skilled Treaty Investor) allows certain foreign nationals whose home country maintains a treaty of commerce and navigation or bilateral investment treaty with the United States to work temporarily in the U.S. in order to carry on substantial investment in the U.S. In the case of chefs, an E-2 visa can be granted to an individual who is an employee of a treaty investor if he/she holds the same nationality as the foreign investor/employer and seeks admission to the U.S. to engage in duties that require special qualifications essential to the operation of the enterprise. The ideal example is one where a chef will be employed by a U.S. restaurant that is owned by a foreign national. A foreign chef may also qualify for E-2 status if he or she intends to develop and direct the operations of an enterprise in which he or she has invested, or of an enterprise in which he or she is actively in the process of investing a substantial amount of capital, for example, a new restaurant.E-2 status holders are initially granted a period of admission for two years with an unlimited number of two-year extensions of status.